From: Damaged Justice <frogfarm@yakko.cs.wmich.edu>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 12:13:41 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Internet putting truth in danger
Message-ID: <199709220404.AAA05944@yakko.cs.wmich.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text




   [1]Cable & Wireless
   [2]UK News [3]Electronic Telegraph
   Friday 19 September 1997
   Issue 847
   
   [4]See text menu at bottom of page
   Internet 'putting truth in danger' 
   By Alison Boshoff
   _________________________________________________________________
   
   External Links
   
   [5][LINK]
          Safe Surf's Proposal for a Safe internet Without Censorship
          
   [6][LINK]
          Campaign for Internet Freedom
          
   [7][LINK]
          Conspiracy Theory - Publisher's Rant
          
   [8][LINK]
          Dimitry's Save the Conspiracy Theories Campaign
          
   [9][LINK]
          Conspiracy Theory Land
          
   [10][LINK]
          Disinformation
          
   [11][LINK]
          Make your own conspiracy theory - Turn Left
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   THE generation that has grown up on The X-Files poses a threat to the
   future of journalism, Fergal Keane, the BBC's Asia Correspondent, said
   last night.
   
   Mr Keane, delivering the Huw Weldon Memorial Lecture at a television
   convention, said that he was worried about the growing influence of
   the Internet, and the conspiracy theories that are aired on it.
   
   He told the Royal Television Society's Cambridge Convention that the
   rash of rumours about the circumstances of the death of Diana,
   Princess of Wales showed that there was a public appetite for
   speculation and fantasy. He said: "Will the generation growing up on
   The X-Files really want to choose calm, considered reportage when they
   have science-fiction and fantasy?"
   
   He said that the trend threatened to plunge reporting into the
   "rumour-ridden gloom of the Middle Ages".
   
   Another danger, said Mr Keane, lay in the trend towards trivia and
   celebrity that was increasingly taking control of the journalistic
   agenda.
   
   He referred to the "beautiful airhead syndrome" and to stories about
   the "dumbing down of the BBC" but said that the corporation's rich
   history of quality reporting meant that it would not head in that
   direction.
   
   He said: "As someone who is neither pretty nor wise, I feel able to
   take the view that dumbing down will not happen at the BBC. If it did,
   it would desert the finest tradition of broadcasting professionalism
   in the world."
   
   Mr Keane said news organisations faced greater challenges than ever,
   with bigger and more diverse audiences who probably knew less about
   the world than their predecessors. He warned of a sacred journalistic
   duty to celebrate the truth.
   
   He said that there was a danger that some news organisations became
   little more than a "carnival of egos" because of a "star system"
   operating among their correspondents, and had to guard against
   employing anyone who was less than exceptional and less than
   dedicated.
   
   [12]3 December 1996: Conspiracy theories on the Internet
   [13]27 June 1997: Beware the Internet's first aid, say doctors
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Next report: [14]Sleepwalker survives 60ft fall
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   [15]Front | [16]UK | [17]International | [18]City | [19]Sport |
   [20]Crossword | [21]Weather | [22]Matt | [23]Connected | [24]etcetera
   | [25]A-Z | [26]Archive | [27]Shopping | [28]Classified | [29]Help |
   
   (c) [30]Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. [31]Terms & Conditions
   of reading.
   
   Information about [32]Telegraph Group Limited and [33]Electronic
   Telegraph.
   
   "Electronic Telegraph" and "The Daily Telegraph" are [34]trademarks of
   Telegraph Group Limited. These marks may not be copied or used without
   permission. Information for [35]webmasters linking to Electronic
   Telegraph.
   
   [36]Email Electronic Telegraph.

References

   1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cgi-bin/redir?SpaceID=12&AdID=123&URL=http://www.cwcom.co.uk/question/adlink.html
   2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixnews.html
   3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/home.html
   4. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et/map/menu_ac=000140326706927_rtmo=32b91bbe_atmo=32b91bbe
   5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/offsite/www.safesurf.com/online.htm&P4_from_link=97/9/19/ntosh19.html
   6. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/offsite/www.easynet.co.uk/cam/censorship/&P4_from_link=97/9/19/ntosh19.html
   7. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/offsite/tucson.com/ComicNews/rants/rant05.html&P4_from_link=97/9/19/ntosh19.html
   8. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/offsite/pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~dchamy/consp.html&P4_from_link=97/9/19/ntosh19.html
   9. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/offsite/ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~panicbuy/HaTeMaiL/conspiracy.html&P4_from_link=97/9/19/ntosh19.html
  10. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/offsite/www.disinfo.com/&P4_from_link=97/9/19/ntosh19.html
  11. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/offsite/www.cjnetworks.com/~cubsfan/conspiracy.html&P4_from_link=97/9/19/ntosh19.html
  12. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/et/96/12/3/ecplo203.html
  13. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/et/97/6/27/wnet27.html
  14. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/et/97/9/19/nsleep19.html
  15. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/home.html
  16. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixnews.html
  17. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixworld.html
  18. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixcity.html
  19. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixsport.html
  20. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/et/ixcross.html
  21. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixweath.html
  22. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixmatt.html
  23. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/etc/iecon.html
  24. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/etc/etchome.html
  25. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixaz.html
  26. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/et/ixsearch.html
  27. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/shopping/ixshop.html
  28. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/et/classad/ixclass.html
  29. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/ixhelp.html
  30. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/corp/copyright.html
  31. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/corp/tsandcs.html
  32. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/corp/tplc.html
  33. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/corp/etinfo.html
  34. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/corp/trademark.html
  35. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/corp/trademark.html
  36. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000140326706927&rtmo=32b91bbe&atmo=32b91bbe&pg=/email.html